Activities
Activities
Monthly Meet and Greet — All at-home moms are welcome to join us at our monthly Meet and Greet. We meet the 1st Tuesday of each month. We go over our activities for the month and get to catch up with one another, while the children play. Sometimes we have a guest speaker and/or children's craft activity during the Meet and Greet. We also have copies of our newsletter at the meeting, along with membership forms for new members. To find out more, please contact MOMS Club of Monroe for more information.
Below are some of the activities we do:
MOMS Night Out
Ideas: Bowling, Meal Makers, Dinner Out, Game Night, Psychic, “Theme” Night, Movies, Holiday Grab Bag, Craft Night at Michael’s, Manicure/Pedicure’s, Wine and Cheese Night
For a “theme” night, we’ve done Night at the Oscars, where we all got together dressed in our best to watch the Oscars. Another “theme” we do in March is an Authentic Irish Meal at one of our member’s houses for St. Patrick’s Day. If we get together at someone’s house, everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to share. We recently tried a Dad’s Night Out, for the Dad’s to get out. A lot of them don’t really know anyone in the area, so they don’t really get out much. We had a nice turnout for it.
Parties
Ideas: Valentine’s Day Party, Spring Fling, Mother’s Day Brunch, Summer Party, Halloween, Thanksgiving Dinner, Cookies with Santa, New Year’s Eve Party
One of our Favorites was our “Spring Fling”, where we used The Very Hungry Caterpillar book for our theme. All our food was the food from in the book. We read the kids the book, and had activities to go with the book too. It was loved by everyone! All our parties have crafts and games to go with the theme.
Playdates:
Ideas: Everything Chocolate Day, Popcorn Day, Hot Cocoa day, ABC Playgroup, PJ’s and a movie, Decorating cupcakes, Sprinkler Days, Yankee Doodle Day, Christmas in July, Flashlight tag, Marshmallow Math Day, Clown Around Day, Luau, Melting Crayons
“Themes” are great for playdates, especially in the winter. The kids still just get to play, but it gives them a little something else to do. For “Everything Chocolate Day”, we had a fondue pot, with lots of things to dip in the chocolate. For marshmallow math day, we had lots of mini marshmallows, and the kids got to count them, and make things using icing.
Park Dates
Ideas: Chalk Day, Bubble Day, Lunch, Music Days, Ice Cream Sundaes, Ball Day, Kite day, Sledding, Painting Snow, Hikes, Scooters & Bikes Day #1 Snack Day, Trunk or Treat, Easter Egg Hunt, Watermelon Eating Contest
The one park has picnic tables by the equipment, so we do “Make Your Own Sundae” in the summer. That’s always a big hit! We do our Easter Egg Hunt at the park and Trunk or Treat in the Parking Lot for Halloween, where the kids go trick or treating to each decorated car. Parks are great for messy activities, like Watermelon Eating Contest
Stuff for Moms while the Kids Play
Ideas: Card Swap, Tea Tasting, Scrapbooking, Book Club, Frugal Moms, Cookie Swap, Secret Sister, Recipe Club
Basically this is a playdate for the kids, while the moms have something fun to do. For our card swap, members make cards (sometimes there’s a theme), and then we get together to exchange them. Our Frugal Moms group met once a month with different topics to discuss- coupon exchange, birthdays, budgets, saving money, etc. Secret Sisters has been a big hit, where the members who participate surprise their Secret Sister with a gift once a month for 6 months.
Service Projects
Ideas: Project Linus, Memory Boxes, Hugs For Hopes, Color A Smile
Project Linus and Memory Boxes are done monthly at member’s houses. These are ongoing and members can come anytime. We try doing Hugs for Hope around the different holidays in the nursery for our Monthly meetings. The kids make cards for sick children.
Craft Days
Ideas: Snowman craft, Paper Bag puppets, Sock Puppets, Decorating t-shirts, Family Tree, Decorating Pumpkins, Making Picture Frames, Creepy Craft, Decorating bags, Decorating Gingerbread Houses, Tie-Dye T-shirts, Leaf Bowls, Letters to Santa, Native American Beading
We try to have at least one “Craft” playdate each month. The kids get to do a craft, and then play. For Grandparent’s Day, the kids made a Family Tree. They used their fingerprints for the leaves and stamped a red apple on the tree for each family member. Pumpkin decorating is great after pumpkin picking. We decorate them with food! Everyone brings a gingerbread house to decorate. Keep left over Halloween candy to use too!
Day Trips
Ideas: Beach, park, Museums, Mall, Lunch, Plays, Chuck E Cheese, McDonald’s, Bowling, Ice Cream, Strawberry Picking, Apple Picking, Pumpkin Picking, Visit a farm, Miniature Golf, Storytime at Borders, Zoo, Back To School shopping, Ice Cream Parlor
In the summer, we like to go to this restaurant for lunch, where you eat outside and the kids can play in the huge sandpit. Day trips to the beach are also always a hit. In the winter, we like to do the indoor play area at McDonald’s. Picking apples and strawberries is always a lot of fun.
Playgroups
Ideas: Joining a small group is a great way to get to know other moms who are experiencing the same stages of development (ie, potty training, night waking, nursing, school issues) with their kids as you are with yours. It also provides a good opportunity to give your child social interaction with his/her peers in a safe environment. It’s listed on our calendar, so anyone with children in that age group can sign up (members can limit how many at their house). And we’ve been using Evite for each playgroup to send out emails to those members that have children in that one.
Speakers
Ideas: They come to our Monthly Meet and Greet meetings to talk about different topics. Some topics we had were Healthy Eating Habits for your children; the Local Library; Conserving Energy/Saving $ on your Gas & Electric bills; Ticks; Fitness; Children abductions and strangers; Understanding your Children.